Misadventures in Babysitting
by la z boy
Summary: Hermione's American cousins come to visit for the summer, but due to unforseen circumstances, Hermione ends up babysitting them for the whole summer. And her cousins are making it hard for her, so she calls in the help of Harry.
1. Chapter 1

A?N: Just a fun little idea that popped into my head.

Chapter 1

Hermione Granger sat at the desk in her room, putting the finishing touches on the last essay she was assigned over the summer. She dipped her quill in the bottle of ink for what she was sure would be the last time and completed the closing sentence of the essay, which was on the evolution of magical theory over the years. Hermione then placed her quill down and picked up the length of parchment she'd used and began to proofread the piece of homework. When she was finally satisfied that the essay was without errors, Hermione rolled up the parchment and tucked it safely into the schoolbag that was leaning against the side of her desk. Hermione breathed out deeply, relieved that she had completed all her summer assignments.

There came a knock at her closed door, and Hermione twisted around in her swivel chair to call out, "Come in!"

The door opened, and Hermione's mother, Catherine, poked her head inside. "Hermione, sweetie, come downstairs. Your cousins are due to arrive any minute now."

Hermione had almost forgotten. Today was the day that her three American cousins were coming to visit. Hermione's parents had agreed to keep them over the summer since they all wanted to visit London during their vacation. The last time Hermione had seen her cousins was before her first year at Hogwarts; that was five years ago, and they had all been about six years old. Hermione guessed that they were now eight or nine. And even though it probably meant spending less time with her best friends Harry and Ron this summer, Hermione was still looking forward to seeing her cousins again.

"Alright, I'm coming." Hermione got up from her seat and walked over to her door. She was wearing a corduroy casual jacket over a pink blouse, which went with the tight-fitting jeans on her legs. After stepping through and joining her mother, they both started to make their way down the main staircase.

"Oh, while I'm still thinking about it," Catherine said as they descended the stairway, "there'll be someone else visiting with your cousins."

"Who?" Hermione inquired curiously.

"One of their friends from school. Her name is Sara, and apparently she's become quite close with them. Sara's parents are taking a vacation of their own, and since that vacation had been planned in advance and since it's really a private vacation, Sara is staying with your Aunt Kate and Uncle Tom."

"And so Sara's visiting here too because she didn't want to be alone for the summer," Hermione finished for her mother. By this time, Hermione and her mom had reached the main level of their house.

Hermione's house was rather spacious, since her parents were high-ranking workers in the dental industry and were paid more than sufficient funds for their services. It was a two-story house, but contained larger rooms than the normal two-story house. It was located in a neighborhood of London that was home to a more wealthier class of people, although Hermione didn't particularly like to brag about it...especially to her friends at Hogwarts. She just wanted to fit in with other people her age, so Hermione had decided early on to keep the fact of her wealthiness to herself. Hermione and her mom found her father, Philip, waiting for them.

"Yes," Catherine said, answering her daughter's previous question. "But from what Kate has told me about her, Sara is a sweet girl, so I don't think we should worry about behavior problems." Kate was Catherine's English sister who had met and married an American who had once come to London on a business trip years ago. As a result, Kate had moved to America after they had gotten married, where they had three children together.

"And," said Philip, "you're going to have to look after them during the days, Hermione. Your mother and I will be at work, so we won't be here to look after them." Philip Granger was a well-built man, though not overly muscular. He had dark hair which was slowly starting to gray with age. Philip wore a refined wardrobe, mainly because of a profitable salary.

Hermione stared at her father, her mouth slightly agape. "Wait a minute! I have to babysit _four_...how old are they?"

"They're all eight," said Hermione's mother.

"I have to babysit four eight year-olds by myself for the entire summer?!"

"Well, you can invite your two friends Harry and Ron to help out if it proves too difficult. But since Jack, Cody and Anna seem so eager to see you again, I don't think they'll be much trouble."

Hermione nodded. If she could get the help of Harry and Ron if babysitting became too out of control, then she thought she could get through the summer well enough.

"So, when are they gonna get here?" Hermione asked.

Catherine checked her wristwatch. "Actually, they should be here any minute. They all flew here by themselves and a cab will be dropping them off. Now, your father and I will be here until about 2:00." The time was currently 11:34 in the morning. "We both have appointments scheduled all afternoon and probably won't be back until later tonight. Sorry for such the short notice, honey."

Hermione sighed inwardly, making sure not to show her mild displeasure at being entrusted with the task of babysitting so quickly. But nonetheless, she nodded. "Okay."

"So that means," Philip added, "that you may have to take care of dinner for your cousins tonight. Nothing too fancy, just make sure it's satisfying for eight year-olds."

Hermione did have some experience in cooking and could whip up a full meal if need be, but she thought that something like sandwiches or heat-up meals would be good enough for this first night. "Should I worry about a bedtime, then?"

"I would say no. We should be back in time to take care of that. But your primary concern should be to make sure that chaos doesn't break out. Being our daughter, sweetie, you know that we like to keep our house organized."

Hermione laughed along her parents at her father's little joke.

"Don't worry, dad. Nothing bad will happen on my watch."

"We have confidence in you." Her mother paused a moment. "But most importantly, your cousins don't know that you're a witch, so even though you're still underage, you can't resort to magic for assistance by any means."

"I know. And I'll tell Harry and Ron that if they do indeed come over."

Philip and Catherine nodded just as the front doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Hermione's three cousins and their friend. Catherine went over to open the door and did so, revealing four kids. They all carried bags that no doubt carried their personal belongings and stepped over the threshold once Catherine Granger invited them in kindly.

Two of the children were boys, and the other two were girls. The boys, Jack and Cody, each had dark brown hair and wore T-shirts proclaiming their favorite sports teams. Jeans and sneakers completed their casual attire. The girls, Anna and Sara, also had basically the same outfits as well (dresses with checkered stockings) but different hair. Anna, Hermione's third cousin, had black and flowing hair while Sara sported dirty blonde. The girls each wore rather delightful expressions on their faces, and both boys had the usual kind but cool attitude-fueled looks about them.

Once they were all inside, the kids put their bags down to rest against the closest wall and came over to see Hermione.

"Hi, Hermione!"

"Hey, cousin."

"What's up?"

Hermione's cousins greeted her sweetly and then proceeded to giver her hugs. Sara, however, stood away from this and politely held out her hand for Hermione to shake; she did.

"Nice to finally meet you," she said. "Jack, Cody and Anna have all talked about you a lot."

"Really? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Sara. I'm sure we're all going to have fun this summer." Hermione tore her gaze away from Sara to smile down at her three cousins, who were all grouped around her.

By that time, Hermione's parents had retreated to the kitchen to prepare lunch for everyone. And in that one fleeting moment when nobody was looking directly into her face, a mischievous and plotting smile spread across Sara's face. And even though they weren't showing it, Sara knew that Jack, Cody and Anna all had the same thought running through their mind as well:

_This is going to be a very enjoyable summer._ Well, for them, at least.

Lunch had passed without a hitch, and after that, the next hour had been spent with Hermione spending some time catching up and her parents preparing to leave for work. At 2:00, Hermione's parents went to her room to give her a few last words of advice for the afternoon. After that, they departed from the house, leaving Hermione alone with Jack, Cody, Anna and Sara. So far, they had been fairly well-behaved, but Hermione certainly wasn't expecting what these kids were planning for her.

Hermione returned from the hallway to her room, where all four kids were relaxing. The guys were sitting on her bed casually while Anna occupied a chair by the window; Sara was sitting in another chair near Hermione's desk. Hermione walked over to her swivel desk chair and made to sit down in it, but immediately found herself crashing to the floor. As the kids laughed at this, Hermione pulled herself up and examined her chair. She simply shrugged, figuring that she must have just misjudged where it had been; she clearly hadn't seen Sara purposefully move it out from under her right at the last moment. Hermione then sat back down in the chair, but made sure to keep her eyes trained upon it as she did so.

"Hermione, what's this paper on your desk that says 'Magical Theory'?" asked Anna, who had gotten up from her seat.

"Oh," said Hermione as she swivelled around with her chair and grabbed up her essay, stuffing it inside her schoolbag. "Nothing. Just school stuff...for the school I go to. Homework." After making sure that everything related to her life at Hogwarts, especially her wand, was tucked safely away, Hermione turned back to her cousins and Sara. "So, what would you like to do?"

Right then, Jack and Cody shared a furtive glance of mischievous plotting and nodded to each other.

"How about play something?"

Hermione shrugged. "Sure. What do you want to play, then?"

"Hide and seek," said Cody.

"Alright." Since Hermione was of Muggle background, she was relatively familiar with the games and such that they had.

"We'll hide, you count."

"To what?"

"100. Now close your eyes."

Hermione did as she was told and her cousins as well as Sara went out of her room and began to roam the house. But as they did so, they all talked in conspiratorial whispers.

"Look what I got," said Anna as she held up a thin wooden stick: Hermione's wand. Evidently, it hadn't been as well hidden as Hermione had thought.

"Wicked!" said Jack, rubbing his hands together. "Hermione doesn't know about us having magical powers and that's why we're here for the summer. So now we can pull pranks on her and not worry about her using her wand for help."

"Are you sure about this? About pulling pranks on your cousin?" inquired Sara. "I know I helped talk you all into it, but I need to be sure that you're okay doing it."

"Yeah. I mean, it's not that we don't love her as a cousin, but you gotta admit...a whole summer with just her and us calls for some special fun. Now, if she tries to tell her parents about our pranks, we'll say that we'll blackmail her."

"How?"

"I'm still working on that."

And so, all four children set out to prepare the first prank.

Hermione finished counting, proclaimed the line "Ready or not...here I come!", and exited her room to begin the game. She combed through every room she could find, which eventually resulted in the finding of Jack, Cody and Anna; each of them had hidden in the spare bedroom, the kitchen and a closet. But Sara still remained to be found. So Hermione, accompanied by her three cousins, went to the rooms that Hermione had not checked yet. Each of her cousins knew exactly where Sara was waiting, but seeing as their first prank relied on Sara having the element of surprise, they kept quiet and let Hermione work her way to the final room: the bathroom.

Jack, Cody and Anna made sure to let Hermione go first and watched as she stopped in front of the bathroom door. Hermione's cousins had used her wand to put an enchantment over the integral item of the prank. They had actually been learning to develop their magical abilities ever since they found out about them and they were now at the point where they could use wands, mainly other people's since they didn't have their own yet. So, with mounting anticipation, they looked on eagerly as Hermione nudged the bathroom door open.

Once Hermione had stepped fully into the doorway, the prank that had been prepared for her immediately took place. Hermione stood rigid with shock as something thick and gooey came from above and covered her entire body within seconds. And when the substance seemed to have stopped pouring, another downpour started instantly. And when that second wave was complete, Hermione could do nothing but look down to see exactly what had been dumped all over her. The substance was thick and pasty white; oatmeal. Somehow her cousins had managed to cook it and set this trap for her.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" came the shout of one of her cousins.

Hermione felt her body go stiff from the spell, but she didn't fall over. That was because of something sticky beneath her bare feet. But the laughter of her cousins soon made the immobile Hermione refocus on the situation at hand. And soon, they were all gathering around their older cousin with triumphant expressions on their faces and clutched in Anna's right hand...was Hermione's wand. But that didn't make sense! Hermione's cousins didn't possess any magical talent...at least she didn't think so. Hermione moved the muscles of her face, thereby discovering that the jinx hadn't affected her face somehow.

"You little brats!" Hermione said through gritted teeth. "How...how did you get my wand and how can you use it?"

"Because we're witches and wizards, like you. That's why our parents sent us here for the summer. To let you teach us how to control it. Yeah right...we want to use it for fun. Like this." Anna indicated the oatmeal covering Hermione.

"Pranks like this aren't fun. They're cruel and juvenile."

"Come off it, Hermione. We're pretty much gonna be alone with you for the entire summer, so we need to find a way to pass the time."

Hermione wiped away some of the oatmeal from her eyes. "By pulling pranks on me?"

"We're used to doing it to our babysitters, and you're our babysitter for the whole summer."

"And what's to stop me from telling my parents about this?"

"We have your wand, so unless you want it destroyed, you won't say a thing."

Hermione stared evenly and unblinkingly at each of her cousins, searching for any indication of weakness on their part, but ultimately found none. She sighed. "Fine. But if you think you can just go about with these pranks -..."

"We can and we will. You see, we have the upper hand because we can do magic and you can't. So you're in for it."

"Why? What have I done?"

"We know the reason you haven't seen us in years is because you didn't want to. So, you're going to pay for you ignoring us."

Suddenly, there came the sound of the phones inside the house ringing. Hermione instinctively tried to move and answer it, but due to her current state, that was clearly not possible. Sighing, or doing something close to it, Hermione eyed one of her now mischievous cousins.

"Could you get that?" she asked in a perturbed voice.

"Sure," Anna replied cooly.

Anna exited the bathroom and made her way to the nearest phone and answered it. Hermione couldn't hear what Anna was saying, so she had no idea who was on the opposite end of the line; however, she had a good feeling that it was her parents.

After a few moments of quiet conversation, Anna returned to the bathroom with a broad smile on her face. Hermione now regarded Anna with a heightened sense of suspicion.

"What?"

"Oh, that was your mum," Anna began airily.

"And...?" Hermione prompted, almost impatiently.

"And they just got an emergency call from one of their American offices saying that they have to fly there immediately and attend some sort of conference."

Hermione felt her situation getting even worse by the minute. "Did they say how long?"

"Not specifically, but they did say that it would be quite a while."

"And they weren't curious why I didn't answer the phone?" inquired Hermione.

"I told then that you were in the bathroom and couldn't come to the phone at the moment which, quite literally, you can't."

"So it looks like it'll be just us for a while," Sara said in a mock-delighted tone.

"Get me out of this!" snapped Hermione suddenly.

"Alright."

Anna, who was the one holding Hermione's wand, flicked it towards Hermione, which lifted the body-bind jinx and allowed Hermione to lift her feet out of the sticky substance she was standing in. This caused her to stumble a bit in her attempt to regain her footing and Hermione managed to balance herself right as she became poised over this bathroom's bathtub, which was filled with oatmeal as well.

For the moment, Hermione thought she was in the clear, but she was soon proven wrong. Anna sneaked up behind Hermione, stifling her giggles, and used the tip of the wand to poke Hermione in the butt; this caused Anna's older cousin to lose her footing and go tumbling into the tub full of oatmeal.

After having been fully submerged in the thick white substance completely, Hermione pulled herself out of the tub and lay down upon the bathroom floor. Hermione did her best to hold in her anger as the group of younger kids surrounding her laughed heartily, and so she got up and trudged out of the bathroom and into her parents' bathroom in order to wash and change into a new set of clothes.

_This is going to be a long summer,_ Hermione thought to herself.

The rest of the day passed with more pranks being pulled on Hermione, but these were more minor compared to the elaborate oatmeal prank. These particular pranks involved trip wires, tying Hermione to a chair, and putting stuff in her hair. Finally fed up with it all, Hermione decided that it was bedtime for all of them. After double-checking that her cousins did indeed clean up the oatmeal in the bathroom and making sure that they were in bed and not planning something, Hermione herself went to bed; she was downright exhausted.

Hermione fell asleep within minutes of hitting her soft bed, so she didn't notice her door cautiously creaking open a short while later. The cause of this quiet movement was Hermione's cousins and Sara, and each of them entered Hermione's room silently after making sure that their cousin was asleep.

They then put a sleeping charm over Hermione for extra measure, to ensure that she wouldn't suddenly awaken as they were doing what they were about to do. Next, the four mischievous children carried on in their setting up of the pranks that Hermione would wake up to in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the next chapter for April Fool's Day!

--

Chapter 2

The next morning arrived in an array of puffy clouds and bright sunshine. Everything in the neighborhood seemed bright and chipper, as every house in sight and every front yard radiated a certain happy bliss that only seemed to exist during the summer.

The sunshine drifting in from Hermione's bedroom window partially woke her up, in addition to her alarm clock going off. Hermione drowsily reached over and hit the "Off" button on the alarm clock and then rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She felt sufficiently rested up after the previous day of mayhem, but who knew what other sort of trouble awaited her today.

And, ironically, Hermione's door opened at that moment and in came Sara, who was giggling profusely. This caused Hermione to stare at her with suspicious narrowed eyes.

"What're you up to?"

From the giggling, Hermione could only conclude one thing: that Sara and the others were more likely up to something.

"Oh...," Sara said through her giggling fit, "nothing." Her voice contained that sweet and innocent tone that was obviously what deluded other people into thinking that Sara was a completely harmless kid.

"I can tell that you're up to something. Now tell me what it is."

"Sorry," Sara continued playfully, "I really don't have any idea what you're talking about." And with that, Sara glided out of Hermione's room, giggling harder than ever.

This giggling caused the sense of suspicion currently resting in the pit of Hermione's stomach to heighten even more, so she decided to properly question her cousins' friend. Hermione sat up fully, threw back the covers on her bed, and got up. At least, _tried _to get up.

Her body certainly wanted to heave itself from the bed, but couldn't. Upon inspection of this problem, Hermione let out a groan of disgust as she discovered that her entire backside was bathed in a full layer of a thick, sticky substance: Super Glue.

"SARA!" Hermione yelled. In return, Hermione heard the mischievous friend of her cousins laugh her head off, along with her cousins.

Hermione then began to struggle as she attempted to free herself from the sticky trap. It took quite a while to do so, but once Hermione finally managed to come lose from the glue, she both felt and heard the seat of her pajama pants rip completely. The struggling had caused some of the glue to get on Hermione's back and even on her front just a little, and now that she stood at the foot of her bed, partially covered in glue and with the seat of her pajama pants now nonexistent on the rest of the piece of clothing, Hermione spotted an open can of Wiz-Glue by her now open door. Obviously, this indicated that the little brats had come prepared.

Now furious, Hermione stormed toward the door and walked out into the hallway, but was immediately met with an onslaught of what she could only assume was more Wiz-Glue, given its thickness. However, that wasn't all. Once the glue attack had ceased, a downpour of many small and extremely light objects came from above Hermione. The lightness of these things that were raining over her made Hermione think of feathers, and the moment she opened her eyes, her suspicions were confirmed. Not only was Hermione covered in Wiz-Glue, but tons of feathers also stuck to her. This was an old-fashioned Muggle prank if there ever was one.

The triumphant laughter of her tormentors once again caused Hermione's temper to slowly build, and she assumed that if she could see herself properly without the layer of glue impeding the view of her normal skin, she would be red with anger.

"Don't you just love magic?" came the half-laughing, half-taunting voice of Sara.

"When I get my hands on you, I'm..." Hermione was abruptly cut off.

"That won't be happening anytime soon," said Jack as he held up Hermione's wand. "It's a simple matter of logic. Whoever has the wand has the power. And seeing as we have _your _wand, we're the ones with the power...and we're so eager to exert that power over you for as long as possible."

He was right. Since Hermione's cousins possessed her wand, Hermione herself was greatly outmatched in terms of conquering these pranks. This meant only one thing.

"Don't doubt for a minute that I won't find a way to get my wand back, because I will."

"Really?" said Anna in mock-amusement.

"Yes. And when I do, you're going to deeply regret ever using it against me!"

"Well, we'll just see about that. As long as there's four of us and one of you, the possibility of you regaining your wand is slim to none."

This remark got no response from Hermione, merely a scowl of deepest loathing.

"So," continued Cody, "in the meantime...have fun in the shower."

As her cousins and Sara started back up with their laughter, Hermione angrily trudged back into her room, where there was her own bathroom where she could for the second time in two days clean a collection of gunk off of her; she was certain that there would be plenty more of the same occasions in the near future. But as she did so, Hermione began formulating possible means which she could use to get her wand back. And she intended to try and do so today.

However, if all else failed, Hermione had firmly settled on a backup plan: call in the help of Harry to help deal with the four little monsters currently under her care.

--

A few hours had passed since the first prank of the day, and in that time, Hermione hadn't seen that much of the kids. Not that she wasn't complaining about the relatively peaceful morning, but it still made Hermione suspicious of what they were up to. When she had ventured upstairs to the rooms they were staying in, Hermione discovered that one room was completely empty and the other had its door shut. Hermione attempted to lean against it in order to hear what was going on, but found that she couldn't hear a thing. So, she then tried twisting the doorknob to check if the door was locked, but was instantly thrown backward from an invisible force. Obviously, they had placed not only a silencing charm on the door, but also one that repelled any unwelcome intruders.

It was clear that she couldn't get her wand back just yet, so Hermione retreated back downstairs to wait until her cousins and Sara showed themselves again.

While Hermione was waiting for them to come out of their room, her fear that they were planning even more pranks against her mounted. She knew that she must try to fight back, to show her babysittes that she could play their game as well. However, the only problem was that Hermione knew nothing about pranking. Sure, she had put up with her fair share of practical jokes courtesy of Fred and George over the years and even helped planned some to pull on Malfoy on one or two occasions, but Hermione had no idea where to begin in the planning stages. But one thing was for certain: she had to learn...and fast.

Finally, after what seemed like centuries, Hermione heard a door open upstairs and pairs of feet shuffle down the stairs. Within seconds, Sara and Hermione's three cousins came into the living room.

"We're hungry," said Cody.

Hermione was slightly slumped in an armchair, where she had been watching television. She checked her wristwatch, which read 12:15, about time for lunch. No doubt they expected her to make something for them.

"It's lunchtime," Anna said in a voice that made it sound as if she thought Hermione couldn't make the connection.

Hermione sighed as she straightened herself in the chair. "Sandwiches sound alright?" Hermione wasn't particularly in the mood to make something that required a lot of work.

"Yes," they all said in unison, which made Hermione suspicious, but only for a moment. She then proceeded to walk into the kitchen, the kids trailing close behind her.

For the next few minutes, Hermione busied herself with setting the table with placemats and glasses of juice, then stood at the kitchen counter as she made an assortment of different sandwiches, relative to the varying tastes of her cousins and Sara. There was the most Common, peanut butter and jelly, and others including: peanut butter and banana, turkey and mayonnaise, cheese and mustard, and a grilled cheese sandwich. Once all of these sandwiches were ready, Hermione walked over to the dining table and placed them in front of their recipients.

But as Hermione went to get her own drink, the kids sprung into action behind her back. While Hermione still had her back turned to them, the kids took the messiest sandwiches, opened them and put them face-up on the seat of Hermione's pushed-out chair. The instant Hermione turned around, they all turned what was left of their own sandwiches upside down to conceal the fact that half of all of them were missing.

To make sure that Hermione's attention was diverted elsewhere when she sat down, her cousins started to pretend to fight.

"Can't I just have a _bite_ of yours?" Jack asked Cody in mock pleading.

"No!" Cody snapped back just as convincingly. "You can eat your own!"

"Hermione! Tell him to leave me alone!"

"Boys, cut it out," Hermione said as she lowered herself slowly into her seat, unaware of what awaited her in it. "I made you each the sandwiches you wanted, so I don't see what the fuss is."

Finally, Hermione's rear-end made contact with the awaiting sandwich pieces, and each substance spread across each slice of bread immediately started to seep through her jeans. Instead of leaping up straightaway, Hermione merely kept sitting there and closed her eyes in an attempt to quell her growing anger as Sara and her cousins giggled heartily around her. But, seconds later, Hermione found out that closing her eyes at this moment was not particularly the smart thing to do.

Hermione suddenly felt something gooey hit her square in the face and slowly drip off into her lap. This was followed by many more gooey things hitting her all over her body as she stood up; she felt most of the sandwich pieces still stuck to her backside. The gooey things that had pelted her in the face, stomach and even both her unmentionable places were obviously the left-over pieces of each sandwich. But that wasn't all. As Hermione wiped the sandwich goop away from her eyes, there came a relentless downpour of all the drinks from above. This made the third time in two days the kids had successfully managed to get Hermione extremely messy during the course of their pranks.

After calmly removing the sandwich pieces that still stuck to her butt, Hermione said through gritted teeth, "I'm going upstairs to change."

She trudged toward the stairs, climbed up them, and went into her room to change. After washing off in the shower, putting the dirty clothes into a full bathtub to soak and changing into fresh clothes, Hermione exited her room, cautious of her surroundings just in case the little brats suddenly jumped out at her.

The phone resting upon a small table in the hallway rang, causing Hermione to jump slightly, but she answered it.

"Hello?" Hermione said in the calmest voice she could summon up.

"Hello, dear," came the voice of Hermione's mother from the other end of the line. "How's everything going back at home?"

For the briefest of moments, Hermione was deeply tempted to spill the beans about what was really going on, but she knew that if she did, then most likely she would pay for it later.

"Um...fine. They're really enjoying their visit." Which, in essence, was a true thing.

"Well, that's wonderful! Are they behaving themselves?"

Hermione paused. "As well-behaved as you could hope for."

"Good. Listen, sweetheart, your father and I don't know how long we're going to be here at this conference; it could even last the whole summer because it's a series of different meetings. So we would suggest inviting a friend of yours over to help you out."

"I was thinking the same thing. So I'll ask Harry since he lives the closest."

"Alright. Well, if it's all going well, then keep on doing what you're doing and make sure everything stays under control. And, most importantly, have fun with your cousins. They've been longing to see you."

"Oh, believe me, we're having fun."

"Okay, bye sweetie. Love you."

"Love you more."

There was click on the other end of the line, and Hermione hung up. From her right, there came the sound of quick movement down the stairs. Hermione suspected that this was yet another ploy to get her into a trap again, but nonetheless decided to follow what she heard.

After descending the steps, Hermione looked around, and saw a flash of something dart into the living room. Making sure to be cautious with every step she took, Hermione made her way into the living room; she looked around to make sure nothing was waiting for her. Satisfied that there was indeed nothing, Hermione went in further. It was curiously quiet in the house, which meant only one thing: something was definitely going down.

It was then Hermione noticed that the door that led out onto the backyard patio was open, meaning that the kids were probably outside. This caused an idea to spring up inside Hermione's head. If she could get outside and somehow manage to creep up on the little brats, then there was a chance that Hermione could get her wand back. And so she proceeded to walk outside, barefoot, though it barely mattered to her if she had shoes on at all.

Hermione was now on the wooden patio, which had lounge chairs and small tables upon it, and she crept down the stairs connected to said patio as if she feared that her hiding adversaries could hear her. However, if Hermione had been more observant, she would have noticed Jack silently slipping back inside the house, closing and locking the door behind him.

Unwary of what had just happened, Hermione passed by the part of the patio that had open space underneath it; open space where Anne and Sara were currently hiding and waiting. The moment Hermione walked by their spot, the two girls leaped from the shadows and tackled Hermione to the grass.

Hermione, of course, struggled but she wasn't strong enough to overpower two girls who were on top of her. After a few moments of wrestling around, Sara and Anne managed to grab hold of Hermione; Anne by the arms and Sara by the legs, and began to carry her around to the front of the house. Hermione had no idea what they were about to do, but she did know that whatever it was they were planning to do to her, it wasn't good.

A few seconds later, Hermione found out exactly what they were about to do. Sara and Anne were hauling her toward an open garbage can, which Hermione knew was filled with filthy garbage seeing as it was the day before the garbage trucks drove through the neighborhood to collect the trash from every house. At that very moment, the two younger girls hauled Hermione up into the air as high as they could, poising their victim precariously over the garbage can. The stench of the trash inside was powerful enough to reach their nostrils.

"Don't you even –..." Hermione began, but was cut off by her being tossed inside.

Immediately, Hermione felt different bits of disgusting garbage get all over her, and stood up, climbed out, and began to chase the two girls into the backyard.

But the instant Hermione set foot in the backyard, she found herself locked out of the house once Sara and Anne were safely inside.

"Let me in, you little brats!" She pounded hard on the door.

"Let yourself in," Cody replied slyly.

Hermione grunted in frustration and backed away from the door, getting an idea. She raced over to the open kitchen window and hoisted herself up, slowly wriggling her way inside. However, when she was partially through, the window abruptly closed down on her, trapping Hermione midway. Hermione twisted around, but soon discovered that was a bad idea.

She was immediately rewarded with a face-full of whipped cream, followed by her having her shirt pulled up over her head, revealing her bra. The little brats even went so far as to spray more whipped cream where they shouldn't have.

_That's it!_ Hermione thought to herself. _I'm calling Harry._


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sory for such the long wait, but here's the third chapter. After this one, only three more to go.

--

Chapter 3

Hermione, now holed up in her room, paced back and forth in front of her bed. When she had first entered, Hermione made sure to lock her door so that the four little brats couldn't burst in at any moment. In her hands, Hermione held the phone that her parents had given her to use for any private calls that she may make whenever she was home. And the call that she was getting ready to make was definitely something to keep hidden from her cousins.

Hermione finally stopped to sit down upon her bed and placed her phone in her lap. While she picked up the receiver, Hermione's eyes darted over to the side of her desk, against which she normally kept her Advanced Spell casting book. But she instantly noticed that it was no longer there, which meant only one thing. And Hermione didn't need three guesses to figure it out. _Those little brats stole my spellbook!_ she thought to herself, _That's how they were able to do all that magic with the oatmeal prank!_

Hermione vented her anger out on the phone buttons, which she mashed furiously while consulting the piece of paper that had the phone number for Harry's Aunt and Uncle written on it. She put the receiver against her ear and waited as she heard the dial tone and the beeping which signified the rings of the phone she was trying to contact. Finally, there was the sound of someone picking up on the other end and an adult male voice said, "Hello?"

"Um...may I speak to Harry, please?" Hermione asked in the most polite voice she could manage. She remembered Harry telling Ron and her earlier about calling the Dursley household and asking for him. She remembered him telling them that whoever answered the phone would probably deny them by saying that nobody by that name lives here, and that they were sorry.

"Nobody by that name lives here. I'm sorry."

_Like clockwork,_ thought Hermione. "Listen, we go to the same school and –..."

"Ah," the male voice suddenly turned a different tone, almost sour. "You're one of _them,_ are you? Well listen here, the boy is not to be bothered by phone calls and such while he's here. He'll talk to you again when he goes back to that freak show school of yours."

"Wait." Hermione was not going to give up so easily. "All I want is to ask Harry if he could come over."

There was a lengthy, almost thoughtful pause on the other end of the line. Just when Hermione thought she wouldn't get another word out of the man she knew had to be Harry's uncle, Vernon Dursley finally spoke up again. "For the rest of the summer holiday?"

The question slightly caught Hermione off-guard. "Er...yes, I was hoping so."

"And what's your name?"

"Hermione Granger, sir." If Harry's uncle seemed to be fond of this idea in the slightest, the least Hermione could do was make sure that she was as polite as she could be.

On the other end of the line, Hermione could hear Uncle Vernon calling for Harry, but instead of using Harry's actual name, he referred to his nephew as "Boy!".

Hermione waited patiently as the Dursleys' telephone traded hands and soon after, Harry's voice came from the other end of the line. "Hello? Hermione?"

Upon hearing Harry's voice, Hermione felt something odd in the pit of her stomach. She had heard Harry's voice before, but never had she had a reaction quite like the one she was having now. It was like a wind was whipping something fluttery around in her stomach, and it felt good; almost gratifying.

"Hermione?"

Harry's voice, now containing concern, caused Hermione to come out of her reverie. "Hey, Harry," she answered in a sweet voice.

"You...called to ask me something?"

"Yes, actually. You see, I'm here at my house alone with my three cousins and their friend. My parents are out of town indefinitely, leaving me to babysit all of them. Probably for the entire summer. And it doesn't help the situation that they're prank-pulling little brats who target me every chance they get. So...I was wondering, actually _hoping_, that you could come over and help me out. That is, if you don't mind," Hermione added hastily.

"No, I don't mind at all, Hermione."

Hermione smiled in relief. "Great. But what about your aunt and uncle? Are you sure they won't mind?"

On the other end of the line, Harry laughed. "Are you kidding, Hermione? They'll be glad to have an excuse to get me out of their house so soon."

Hermione couldn't help but snicker as well, however she wasn't entirely sure why she did so. Could it have been because of what Harry had said? Because when she laughed, it was more of a girlish giggle than a regular laugh. "Okay, um, so how are you going to get here? My house isn't connected to the Floo Network, and I'm positive your relatives' isn't either."

"Well, why don't you tell me where you live and I can get my uncle to drive me there. As long as I mention it'll get me out of his hair until next summer, he'll have no problem with it."

So, Hermione gave Harry the address of her house, which caused Harry to make a noise of amusement.

"That's actually very close to where we live. If I pack up my things fast enough, I could probably be there in an hour or so."

"Great. The sooner you get over here, the better. These kids are driving me insane."

"Relax, Hermione. Once I get there, we're going to take care of everything." He paused for a moment. "In the meantime, might I suggest contacting Fred and George for suggestions on pranks to use to get back at your cousins?"

"Way ahead of you. I sent them a letter explaining my situation just before I called you. Hopefully they'll send me something back."

"Yeah, hopefully. Well, I guess I'll see you in an hour."

"I'll be waiting." Hermione hung up the phone, breathing a sigh of relief. She would now have the assistance of Harry in dealing with her cousins, and that was on top of Fred and George sending her suggestions for pranks for retaliation. However, that was assuming they weren't busy or out of town on business.

Hermione, for the next quarter of an hour, stayed in her room straightening up as best she could for when Harry came. Seeing as her cousins were currently occupying the only guest bedroom in the house, Hermione knew that Harry and her would have to share her room; Hermione's parents had already made it clear to their daughter that they didn't want any guests of hers staying in their room when they were away. Call it an old-fashioned rule, but Hermione was able to respect that.

She dragged a sleeping bag reserved for these occasions out of her closet, placed it directly beside her own bed, and unrolled it. Hermione hoped that Harry would find it sufficient.

After that was finished, Hermione exited her room, closing the door behind her, and headed downstairs so that she could meet Harry at the door. On her way downstairs, Hermione noticed that the door to her cousins' room was shut as well; no doubt they were combining their knowledge of mischievous prank-pulling with some of the advanced spellwork found in the book they had stolen from her. Hermione made a mental note to stay on extra-alert from now on.

When she got downstairs, Hermione checked the Grandfather Clock they had in the main hallway. According to the clock, it had been fifty-five minutes since she had called Harry, so that meant he should be arriving any minute now.

It was almost sundown, and the sky had gone from a cheerful light blue to a hazy pre-night purple, tinged with traces of leftover orange from the setting sun. Looking out the window located beside the front door, Hermione saw a rather fancy car pull into her driveway, the headlights turned all the way on. Once the car had come to a halt, both front doors opened, letting two vastly different figures emerge. The one on the passenger side was thin and tall, and by contrast the driver was extremely pudgy and a little stocky; Harry and his Uncle Vernon. Both of them immediately began to remove Harry's luggage from the back of the car, Vernon appearing rather reluctant to do so. Hermione decided to go out there and lend a helping hand.

She did so, opening the front door and walking over to the car. As she approached, both Harry and her exchanged warm and friendly smiles of greeting. Once Hermione was close enough, she hugged Harry tightly, with Harry pleasantly returning the gesture. Once Harry and Hermione had let go of each other, Hermione started to help with the luggage.

"Here, Harry. Let me help with that."

"Thanks, Hermione."

From across the car, Uncle Vernon eyed both teenagers intently. "So, it'll just be the two of you the rest of the summer? Your parents aren't here?"

"No, sir," Hermione answered. "It'll just be Harry and I as we watch over my younger cousins until the start of term. My parents are out of town indefinitely."

"Children watching children? What has our society come to?" Uncle Vernon mumbled to himself. "So I suppose you can handle everything from here, then?" he asked Harry.

"Yes, thank you for the ride," said Harry.

Uncle Vernon merely grumbled something incomprehensible in response, got back into the car, and drove off. This left Harry and Hermione standing alone in Hermione's driveway, holding Harry's luggage.

"Well, your uncle certainly is polite," Hermione said sarcastically.

"Don't mind hi, it's just how he always is with me. C'mon, let's go inside before it becomes dark." They both started to pick up Harry's belongings and take them inside, Hedwig and her cage included.

Once they had gotten everything into the house, Hermione closed and locked the front door.

"Okay, since my cousins are already staying in our guest room and my parents won't allow anyone to sleep in their bed while they're gone, you'll have to sleep on a sleeping bag in my room. I hope that's alright."

"Of course it's alright." Harry eyed the staircase. "So, should we take my things up to your room?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll take my suitcase and Hedwig's cage while you get my schoolbag."

Harry and Hermione walked up the stairway to the upper floor of Hermione's house and to her room. On the way, Harry noticed the closed door of the room which held Sara and Hermione's cousins. Once they were inside Hermione's room, Harry and Hermione set Harry's things down on the floor.

"So, I hear you're having a bit of trouble with your cousins."

Hermione snickered sardonically. "You have _no _idea."

Harry regarded her sympathetically. "That bad, huh? So what've they been doing?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "Well, after covering me in oatmeal _twice_, the little brats continued their streak of pranks by tying me to a chair and putting things in my hair, placing trip wires around the house, using very sticky maple syrup to stick my butt to my bedsheets, spraying me with Wiz-Glue and covering me in feathers, making me sit on sandwiches and throwing more at me, and locking me out of the house and spraying whipped cream down my bra when I tried to climb in through the window."

Once Hermione was done with her long-winded recollection of all the pranks that had been pulled on her thus far, Harry could do nothing but stare at her in disbelief. Finally, he blinked his eyes and spoke up. "That's...a lot of pranks to endure."

Hermione nodded. "Yes."

"How are you holding up after all of them?"

"Pretty well when you take into consideration that all of the pranks I just mentioned were pulled on me within just two days." She was currently sitting on the edge of her bed, and Harry walked over to sit down beside her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We're going to get them back for you. All we have to do is think up some good pranks to retaliate with."

"That's a really good idea Harry, but it has one major flaw. They've stolen my wand."

"What?"

"Yeah. That's the advantage they've had over me for the past two days. They have magical powers of their own and can actually use wands, seeing as they're not students anywhere like Hogwarts. And that's why I called you for help. They're absolutely tormenting me and I can't do anything about it."

"Well, that's because you're still underage, Hermione. As am I. So, even I can't work magic to help you. What we need to do is beat them at their own game. But first, I think you should introduce me to them, just so they know that they now have two older kids to contend with." Harry got up and walked into the hallway, Hermione close behind him.

"I dunno, Harry," Hermione said as they came to stand in front of her cousins' closed door. "They told me that this is how they treat all of their babysitters, and seeing as how you're now one of their babysitters, they may not take kindly to you warning them."

"I'm not going to warn them at all. I just want to let them know I'm here."

"Alright," said Hermione in a questionable tone. She knocked briefly on the door, and it opened from the other side, revealing Cody.

"What?" he asked in a tone that seemed to suggest that Harry and Hermione were interrupting something very important.

"I have some news for you all." Hermione indicated Harry to all of them. "This is Harry Potter, a friend of mine. He's agreed to come over and help me look after you guys for the rest of the summer."

"Hi," Harry greeted them politely. "May we come in?"

"Of course!" piped up Sara from the desk all of the young kids were sitting at. Sara seemed to be eyeing Harry curiously, as if she was really interested in him, in a sort of dreamy way.

Harry smiled as both he and Hermione stepped into the room. Harry bent down beside Cody. "What's your name?

"Cody. That's Jack, Anna and Sara." He pointed out his two other cousins and friend.

"Hello, Jack, Anna and Sara." Harry straightened himself back up. "Well, I just wanted to introduce myself to you guys."

Harry turned around to walk out of the room, as did Hermione, but the moment they reached the doorway, they both felt something hit their rear-ends in quick succession, and then those somethings felt like they suddenly became oozy. Harry and Hermione snapped their heads back around to see what it was that the kids had thrown at them, and saw splotches of varying colors on each buttocks. By that point, all of the kids were laughing.

Jack held up a multicolored toy gun. "What, you guys have never heard of paintball guns?"

Hermione lunged to attack, but was held back by Harry, who was clearly holding back his own anger. "Relax, Hermione. Relax. We'll get them back," he added in a whisper into her ear.

Both Harry and Hermione exited the room and went back to Hermione's. Once they were inside and had shut the door, Harry sighed and turned to his best friend. "You know, Hermione, I'm beginning to see what you mean about your cousins."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

First thing the next day, Harry and Hermione collaborated on writing a letter to Fred and George that detailed their situation and asked for ideas and possibly some items which would help them strike back against Hermione's bratty cousins. They sent the letter by way of Hedwig, who departed off into the bright blue sky after devouring a couple of Harry's treats.

"So," said Hermione to Harry once Hedwig had disappeared into the skyline, "I hope you slept alright last night."

"Yeah," answered Harry. "Listen, if you're worried about me having to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor, don't. I honestly don't mind."

"I just wish we had an extra guest room to spare. Actually, I take that back. We _do_ have a ton more rooms, but they're all filled with my Dad's things. He likes to keep things from his past. Call him nostalgic, but he can never seem to part from them."

Harry nodded. "I know what you mean. My cousin even has an extra room dedicated to storing anything he can fit in there. Only in Dudley's case, he has so much stuff because my Aunt and Uncle like to spoil him."

Hermione regarded him with an air of slight sympathy, slight enough so that Harry wouldn't notice and read too much into it. "I feel bad for you, Harry. Having to settle for being the second-best where you and your cousin are concerned."

Harry shrugged it off. "You get used to it. Eventually, I came to accept the fact that I was a bee in an ant hill and there was nothing I could do about that. It wasn't until I came to Hogwarts that I began to understand how it feels to be cared about."

Without saying anything, Hermione enveloped Harry in a warm hug, which clearly took Harry by surprise.

"Hermione…"

"I know. I just felt like it." She let go.

Harry checked his watch to see that in the time it took for them to write the letter to Fred and George and for them to have their short conversation, the morning had slipped away from Harry and Hermione. It was almost time for lunch. And Harry's grumbling stomach was another indicator.

"Wow, it's nearly noon."

"Really?" asked Hermione. She checked her own watch.

"So, what do you want to do for lunch?"

"I'm not sure I want to risk doing anything here after yesterday's fiasco. We should go out somewhere. That way, they won't be able to use any magic against us in public."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Harry. "We should get ready."

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Meanwhile, Hermione's cousins and Sara were in their room, bent over a desk while flipping through the Advanced Spellcasting book they had stolen from Hermione. The sound of knocking from the opposite side of the closed door caused them to close the book and hide it under the central bed.

Once that was done, Cody walked over to the door and opened it, to come face-to-face with Harry and Hermione. Cody put on a fake polite charm and spoke in a deceptively sweet voice.

"Can we help you with something?"

"We just figured you'd be hungry by now, so we came to see if you'd be interested in going out for lunch," replied Hermione evenly.

Cody turned back to see what his fellow pranksters thought about this suggestion, and they all nodded their heads yes. He then faced his cousin again.

"Sure, why not? But as long as we get to choose where we go."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Why would we let _you_ choose?"

"Because we have your wand…and we could always decide to break it if necessary."

"Why you little –…" Hermione began, but Harry stopped her by holding her back when she started to advance menacingly towards her cousin. "Fine," she muttered after taking a calming breath. "We're leaving in five minutes, so get ready and meet us downstairs."

"Will do," Cody responded sarcastically before closing the door again.

"So," said Sara, "I have an idea. Hermione thinks that by taking out to a public place, she can stop us from pulling more pranks. Well, I say we prove her wrong; we pick out a place that would be like a kid's restaurant and we turn that environment against her."

"I like that idea," spoke up Anna, "but what about her friend?"

"Harry? Actually, he seems kind of cool to me. Until he proves otherwise, we leave him alone and keep our focus on Hermione. Now, since you guys are her cousins, you must've been here before and have at least a decent idea of what places they have to eat around here."

"Well," said Jack, "before we came, our mom told us about this place that's like a themed restaurant. It serves stuff like pizza and has an arcade, obstacle course and even connects with another kids play center."

"Using a bunch of excited and hyperactive kids against our older cousin. Sounds like an interesting idea. Let's go with it," said Sara as she got up.

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Forty-five minutes later, they all arrived at Pizza Palace, a kid-themed restaurant located in a small town in the vicinity of Hermione's neighborhood. When they walked through the front door, the sound of excited children, music and arcade games filled their ears as bright colors greeted their eyes.

Pizza Palace was similar to its American counterpart, Chuck E Cheese. The main lobby split off into three separate areas with the one on the left leading into a main dining area that was filled with round tables and a performing stage which was supposedly reserved for different performances for kids' entertainment. The two archways on the right led to an arcade and play area, respectively, with the majority of the kids running around in the play area whilst their parents hovered in the background to make sure no one got hurt. The play area included an elaborate obstacle course, what looked like some sort of food cooking demonstration area and another entrance to another kids' center.

A teenage blonde-haired girl dressed in a red shirt, cap, black pants and a name tag approached Harry and Hermione and counted the numbers of their group. "Six in your party?" she asked.

Harry nodded and the employee led them all into the dining area, to a table close to the stage which was situated in front of a long booth. Everyone slid into the booth, and Hermione ended up sitting between Harry and Sara.

"Someone will be with you shortly to take your orders," the employee said politely before departing back toward the front lobby.

"You know what?" said Harry, "Why don't we just order a large pizza? That way, it'll save us the time of having to wait for six individual orders."

"I like that idea," Sara piped up in a sweet voice, a sweet voice that caused Hermione to eye her in suspicion.

And, quite conveniently, a waitress dressed in the same attire as the previous employee walked up to the table at that moment and took out a pen and pad of paper. "Hello, my name is Molly and I'll be your server today. What can I get you?"

"One large pizza and six Cokes," answered Harry.

Molly took the time to write that down and smiled sweetly. "Alright, I'll have your drinks out in a minute and the pizza shortly after that." She turned and walked toward the kitchens.

The next minute passed with Jack and Anna looking around at their surroundings, carefully taking in the obstacle course and the area deemed "Fun Food", where there were activities that let kids see how different recipes offered in the restaurant were made. Already, they were planning something.

Sara, meanwhile, was surreptitiously observing how Hermione was acting around Harry. She could tell that Hermione was flirting with Harry by the way she was acting and talking to him. If Hermione really _did_ fancy Harry at the same time that Sara had a crush on him, then the only way Sara was going to make a move was by getting Hermione out of the way. And Sara could rely on the devious schemes of Hermione's cousins to do that for her.

"Uh, we're gonna go to the bathroom and wash our hands before the pizza gets here," Sara announced. After getting approval to do so, Sara and Hermione's cousins slid out of the booth and headed toward the restrooms.

Once they had turned a corner and were out of sight from Harry and Hermione, Sara motioned for the others to huddle around her. "Alright, can I count on you guys to keep Hermione away from Harry and I for a while?"

"What for?" asked Anna.

"I like Harry, but I think Hermione does too. So I have to make a move before she does. Just make sure she can't get back to the table."

Jack, Cody and Anna each looked devilishly at each other. "Oh, we can do that."

They all walked back to the table, where Harry and Hermione were sipping their drinks. When everyone had resumed their seat, Hermione said, "The food's going to take maybe half an hour to come."

Just then, Sara shot a glance over to her three friends that silently told them that now was their chance.

"Hey, um," Jack spoke up, "we're gonna go play while we wait. Hermione, why don't you come with us?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "I don't think so. You might try to pull something."

"We promise we won't." Of course, Jack was lying. "C'mon, think of it as our way of apologizing." He paused to fake puppy dog eyes. "Pleeeease?"

"Why don't you go with them, Hermione?" said Harry. "They really do seem to want to make up."

Hermione carefully looked from face to face of her cousins, searching for any sign that would show a crack in their show of kindness; she found none. "Alright," she said. She slid out of the booth once all of her cousins did, but she noticed that Sara remained seated.

"I don't feel like playing games. I think I'll stay here with Harry."

Harry nodded. "I'll keep an eye on her."

At that moment, Anna grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her along as all of them raced to the gaming area, which was replete with many arcade games and an obstacle course. Hermione's cousins specifically guided her to Whack-A-Mole, the popular game played using a foam bat.

"You got any tokens?" Hermione asked, referring to the little gold coins used to activate each game in the arcade.

"Yep," replied Jack, who had apparently slipped away and gotten some while everyone else made their way over to the game. He then stepped up and deposited the appropriate amount of coins inside the side panel. He turned to Hermione. "How about a challenge?"

"Er…okay," Hermione said as she stepped up beside Jack and grabbed the second foam bat. This sudden show of niceness from the little pranksters should have made Hermione more suspicious, which meant she also should have noticed Jack slip the other foam bat on his side from its holster and hand it to Anna. Not only that, but Cody also surreptitiously got the other bat on Hermione's side, but he made sure to stay out of her line of sight.

The game came to life, with numerous plastic moles popping in and out of the circular holes in the board. Oblivious to her cousins behind her, Hermione began bopping any mole she could on the head with the foam bat. But, seconds later, it was she who started to feel like the moles.

Hermione's cousins were now hitting her as hard as they could with their own foam bats, and Hermione was on the floor after one of the blows got her behind her kneecaps. Hermione tried to swing back, but it was useless; she was overpowered by her maniacal little cousins.

Her reprieve came when one of them yelled, "Pizza's here!", and they all dropped their bats and rushed away. This left Hermione on the floor still, with a couple of staring kids chuckling loudly at her state. Hermione quickly pulled herself to her feet and replaced the bats before heading back over to the table.

Indeed, the pizza had arrived and everyone else had already dug in. straightening herself out a little bit, Hermione made Jack and Anna stand up and let her slide into the booth; she would now be sitting beside Sara and not Harry, much to her disappointment. She was still standing when she positioned herself over her seat, so Hermione didn't notice the greasy slice of pizza that Sara had already placed there.

"Did you have any fun?" Harry asked her as she lowered herself down.

"Not quite," Hermione replied. The instant that short sentence was finished, she had sat down, which elicited a squishing noise from underneath. Immediately, already knowing what had happened, Hermione lifted her butt off the seat without standing up and the pizza sloppily fell off. Hermione couldn't see it, but there was a saucy stain right in the center of her backside.

"Oh," Sara said in mock concern, "let me get you some napkins."

She pulled some napkins out of the container in the middle of the table, but her arm (on purpose, Hermione thought) knocked into the glass of soda in front of Hermione. Obviously, the liquid splashed all over Hermione's shirt and the front of her pants.

Harry firmly pulled Sara back down to her seat to avoid a scene. "Hermione, why don't you go in the bathroom and try to clean up? Anna and Sara will help you, won't they?" he added sharply to Sara.

"Yeah, sure," Sara said rather begrudgingly.

And with that, Hermione was reluctantly accompanied by Anna and Sara on her way to the Women's Bathroom. It was the usual layout for a public Women's restroom, with mirrors lining the right-hand wall above a collection of sinks. The floor was composed of pale gray tiles, whereas the ceiling was white. There were three stalls lined up in succession starting at the far left corner, and in the open space after they ended were a trash can and a holder for paper towels.

Hermione crossed over to the paper towel holder and pulled out quite a few of them before heading toward the first sink, turning the water on and sticking the towels underneath the running faucet.

Behind her, Sara was miming out her next plan. Anna caught on quickly. Not particularly caring if Hermione saw them coming, they hurriedly approached her and tightly grabbed her, pulling her to the ground. Anna and Sara giggled maliciously as they started to strip off her clothing. Pretty soon, Hermione was only in her underwear and being taken into a stall. The door was closed behind her and Hermione deduced that the two brats would magically lock her inside; she was right. There was open space under the stall door Hermione could crawl through, but even if she did that, she wouldn't dare attempt to walk back into the restaurant dressed in nothing but her underwear. Seconds later, she heard the bathroom door shut closed.

"I can't _wait_ to get them back with Fred and George's stuff!" Hermione said to herself.

After standing around and thinking for a few moments, Hermione suddenly got an idea. She thought back to the features of the restaurant, and remembered seeing people dressed in themed costumes that went along with the restaurant. The people who were paid to wear those costumes certainly had to wear decidedly light clothing underneath them. And that meant there had to be a locker room somewhere in the building where those people had to change, and given that Anna and Sara would no doubt find a way to dispose of Hermione's original clothes, this was her best bet.

But how was she going to get to the locker room, wherever it may be?

Hermione looked upward and found the answer. There was a ventilation shaft above. That was the only and best option Hermione had. The toilet seat was already down, so all Hermione had to do was stand carefully on it and smash her fist against the cover of the vent until it gave way; that took about 30 seconds.

The gymnastics classes Hermione's parents had paid for when she was younger had just come in handy. Hermione was able to haul herself up into the shaft, which contrasted greatly with the bathroom in terms of its darker lighting and dirtier contents. In fact, Hermione was sure she accumulated quite a few grimy spots during her careful trek on her hands and knees.

Hermione passed over multiple other vent covers that gave her views down onto the restaurant below. She soon came to the one where she could see their table, where only the four little brats were sitting. Harry wasn't there, curiously. Knowing Harry and how concerned he could be when it came to the welfare of his best friends, Hermione was able to guess he was standing outside the bathroom, but wouldn't enter in case she might have been indecent in terms of her appearance. That was one of the things she loved about Harry.

Hermione continued to crawl through the shaft, passing over vents that led down into another part of the dining area, the arcade, and finally the obstacle course. This one was directly above the part of the colorful structure where kids converged and jumped around on an inflated surface, much like a Moonbounce. Hermione had to pause here, as she wondered how much farther it was to the locker rooms.

But as she stopped, and right on top of the vent cover at that, the cover began to creak, however Hermione didn't seem to notice. But she did catch on right as the cover gave way, which caused her to fall along with it.

Her luck, if she could call it that, had allowed her to fall right in the middle of an area with a lot of young kids and in nothing but her underwear, no less. There were surprised gasps at first, but they soon turned to laughter.

"Look!" someone, a girl from the sound of it, said. "_And she's in her underwear!_"

Immediately, Hermione knew that this topped every embarrassing experience she ever had in her life so far.

"Let's have some fun with her!" another voice, this one belonging to a boy, exclaimed.

Hermione felt many tiny hands grab her and threw her against the red wall, which she bounced lightly off of and back into the kids' hands. Next, they pushed her against a net-like wall, which had a view of what was outside…more importantly the rest of the kids in the place. And Harry.

When he looked up to see what was the cause of all the sudden murmurs, his eyes widened when he saw Hermione in the obstacle course being shoved against the net wall before being tossed around. Harry turned back to the table where Hermione's cousins were seated. He walked back over.

"Where are her clothes?" he demanded of Sara and Anna, who both feigned confused expressions. "You know what I'm talking about," Harry persisted.

"Why, I have no idea," Sara said sweetly. "By now, they might be in a garbage truck heading for a junkyard."

Seconds after hearing this, Harry took off his outer shirt which covered a plain blue T-shirt and ran towards the obstacle course. By now, the kids had thrown Hermione down a tubular slide, which led back down onto the floor, and that was where Harry met her and helped her to her feet. Harry then helped her into his over-shirt, which zipped up in the front to conceal her bra.

"Thank you," she said gratefully before hugging him tightly.

Harry returned it, but felt awkward having Hermione stand there with her panties visible. "We need to find you some pants," he said after Hermione leaned away.

"Absolutely."

With Hermione hiding behind Harry to avoid prying eyes, they eventually made their way to the locker room after being given directions. They arrived inside, and found a spare pair of pants that went to every employee's uniform. Once Hermione had put them on, she and Harry walked back out and to their table.

"We're leaving. Now," Hermione said shortly.

None of the four kids argued as they all quietly left and headed home.

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"Fred and George _better_ reply by tomorrow, otherwise I think I'll murder these kids," Hermione seethed. She was now dressed in her pajamas as Harry sat on the edge of her bed, watching his best friend pace back and forth.

"I just can't believe they would be so cruel," he said. "Do you have any idea why they would be like this?"

"Who knows?" Suddenly, Hermione paused in her tracks. "Wait a minute. I think they're jealous. Jealous of me becoming a witch before they got their powers."

"They have magical powers?"

Hermione nodded. "They told me so. Now, if that's the reason why, then we need to fight fire with fire. We need whatever Fred and George can send us." Hermione sat down beside Harry. "I just can't wait to give the brats a taste of their own medicine."

Soon after, Harry and Hermione fell asleep.


	5. Author's NoteHelp Wanted

**AUTHOR'S NOTE/HELP WANTED**

Hey, all!

Alright, so I realize how long it's been since I last updated this story, so let me apologize for that. Looking over all the people who have this story on Alert, though, my desire to finish it has been renewed. And it is my full intention to do just that, but I've come up with an … interesting way to do it.

Let me explain.

Any notes I made concerning the rest of this story have since been lost, but I still remember the basics of what I had thought up. So, here's my idea: seeing as how there were going to be only 2 or 3 more chapters, and I want to finish this story for you guys, I'm putting out sort of a "Help Wanted" notice.

This means anybody who really wants to see Misadventures In Babysitting get completed, contact me by PM, and we can work the rest of the story out together. All I ask is that you come fully prepared to engage in the sort of wild mayhem that's been present in the first four chapters. It may also help if you have some ideas for pranks and such.

If I get more than one person to respond to this, then I'll choose the one I think has the better ideas.

Anyway, that's it. I sincerely hope this proves effective. Think of it as a sort of "kickstarter campaign."

La z boy


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